Girl Scouts rally for annual cookie campaign

Saturday

PANAMA CITY — A line of Daisies from the Girl Scout Council of the Florida Panhandle stood in line, waiting for their turn to make a financial transaction at a rally Saturday morning.

PANAMA CITY — A line of Daisies from the Girl Scout Council of the Florida Panhandle stood in line, waiting for their turn to make a financial transaction at a rally Saturday morning.

Amelia Dykes, 6, handed $2.50 in change to her 6-year old “customer” Alexia Uccello. Alexia had used $20 to pay for the five boxes of cookies she “purchased.”

The rally was held at the Eleanor W. Lewis Service Center and was a kick-off event for the organization’s annual National Girl Scout Cookie Day, Feb. 8, which is designated to celebrate the importance of the Girl Scout cookie program.

Saturday’s event included a “Cookie College,” where girls learn about goal setting, customer service and product knowledge.

One of the focal points was financial literacy.

The girls are divided by school grades: Daisies, kindergarten to first-grade; Brownies, second- and third-grades; Juniors, fourth- and fifth-grades and cadets, sixth through eighth.

At one station, Brownies were making pencil toppers, a marketing device that would attract the attention of fellow students.

At another station, Cadet Kayla Weldon worked with fellow cadets making cookie sale yard signs.

She decorated hers with blue and purple tie-dye tape.

“Whenever we get the money, we’re going to give it to (the Alaqua Animal Refuge) to help the animals,” Kayla said, adding final touches on the arrow pointing up from the word “cookies” to “$3.50,” in the right-hand corner of the sign.

The cadets will stand them in their yards to catch the eyes of commuters.

According to Gretchen Erickson, president of the Panhandle Council, the girls decide what activity they want to do.

“(If they want) to go to Julie Gordon Low’s birthplace in Savannah, Ga., as a field trip, that takes a lot of money,” Erickson said. “So then they plan out, OK, if that’s what you guys want to do, this is how many cookies each girl is going to have to sell to reach that goal.”

“So they’re setting the goals, doing it, being proactive and then they get the follow up of reaching their goal and celebrating the accomplishment,” she added.

Erickson said being familiar with the different kinds of cookies is a part of preparation for the annual cookie sales campaign. Cookie booth sales will be Feb. 22 through March 17 in partnership with local businesses.

Bailey Bewsher, a first year Daisy, was sitting among scout sisters painting her nails green, the color designated for Junior Mints cookies.

The group was voting for which cookie would be the favorite cookie.

“I think it’s great for them. It just takes what they learned in school and takes it a step further, prepares them for the real world,” said Allison Bender, Bailey’s mother.

Girl Scouts of the USA began selling cookies as a service project at a high school in Muskogee, Okla., in December 1917.

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Girl Scout Cookie, circa 1922

A cookie recipe was featured in The American Girl magazine in an article by Girl Scout USA local director Florence E. Neil in July 22.